The 20 best job vacancies at banks in London now, our verdict
The weather in the UK confirms it: summer is over. And with the end of summer comes a theoretical resumption in hiring. Recruiters are back from holiday, candidates are back from holiday and line managers will be eager to use the headcount they've been given before the end of the year. Although recruitment firm Morgan McKinley said finance hiring in London remained more robust this summer than usual, September will almost certainly be more vigorous still: last year it was the third best month for new finance jobs in London according to Morgan McKinley's monitor.
This being so, we've scrutinized banks' own recruitment websites to see which interesting jobs they're advertising in London now. In our estimation, the 20 jobs below are the best and most interesting. Apply now before the last holiday stragglers return to their desks and up the competition.
1. UBS is looking for a new head of its artificial intelligence centre of excellence
2017 has been the year of artificial intelligence in finance. UBS is on it and has set up an 'Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence' to give strategic direction to all its AI programmes. The role is based in London or Zurich and involves interfacing directly with bank's the chief technology officer.
2. Deutsche Bank is looking for a new rates trader (and a rates strategist)
Rates traders are making a comeback in 2017, with banks resorting to hiring traders who've been out of the market doing other things as talent becomes tight. Deutsche Bank's rates trading business hasn't had a great 2017 after making a big loss in the U.S. The German bank is trying to set things to rights and is hiring both an associate/VP level inflation trader and a VP/director level rates strategist in London.
3. Morgan Stanley is looking for a new aerospace and defence analyst
Sabre rattling between North Korea and the U.S. makes this an interesting if unnerving time to be covering the defence industry. Morgan Stanley wants a vice president (VP) level aerospace and defence analyst to cover stocks in Europe.
4. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is looking for someone to to build relationships with healthcare and not for profit clients
Bank of America is looking for a VP level relationship banker to work with the healthcare and charities sector. The role is located in the commercial bank but will involve cross-selling investment banking and fixed income products. You'll need to know about U.S. healthcare providers in Europe.
5. Citi wants a new head of West European economics (at MD level)
Willem Buiter, Citi's global chief economist has a pleasant life. As well as working at Citi, Buiter regularly adopts adjunct professor positions at universities of global renown, the most recent being at Columbia, where he's teaching a course in financial regulation this autumn. Citi's new vacancy for an MD-level head of Western European economics might not allow you quite this level of freedom, but it is an opportunity to get in at the top of what's clearly an interesting team.
6. J.P. Morgan wants a quantitative researcher to work on algorithms and machine learning
Earlier this year, J.P. Morgan produced the definitive guide to machine learning in finance. Then it developed LOXM, a next-generation artificial intelligence programme to execute equities trades which it said is years ahead of rivals. Now, it's hiring an associate-level quantitative researcher to work its algorithmic and machine learning unit, developing mathematical models for equities electronic trading algorithms.
7. Goldman Sachs is also looking for a machine learning engineer
J.P. Morgan's not alone in bolstering its machine learning skills. Goldman Sachs is looking for an analyst or associate-level strategist to work on machine learning products for its securities unit.
8. Citi wants a VP (and an associate) in leveraged finance
2017 has also been a bumper year for leveraged finance hiring. In June, Citi hired Toby Ali from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as co-head of leveraged finance for EMEA. It looks the bank is growing its leveraged finance team in London: it's advertising for both an associate and a VP to join soon.
9. Deutsche Bank is looking for a senior engineer for its cross product valuation calculator
It's well known that Deutsche Bank had historical problems with its disparate risk and pricing systems. The bank appears to have developed a cross product valuation calculator to establish the present value and risk data for its portfolio (which sounds like SecDB at Goldman Sachs). It's looking for a senior engineer to work on this.
10. UBS is looking for an "ethical hacker"
If you like hacking, but don't want to get arrested, you might want to work for UBS. The Swiss bank is advertising for an "ethical hacker", otherwise known as a "penetration tester" to try breaking into its systems in order to determine where the weaknesses lie.
11. Credit Suisse is looking for a solutions structurer for its global markets team in London
Credit Suisse wants an associate or a VP to create, ' tailored financing solutions to address financing needs of borrower clients in the EMEA region.'
12. J.P. Morgan wants a data scientist for a new "intelligent solutions" division
As part of its embrace of all things machine learning, J.P. Morgan has created a new intelligent solutions division. This new group is tasked with looking for ways to "transform and leverage J.P. Morgan's proprietary data assets" through data science, machine learning and big data. The division is hiring a data scientist.
13. Goldman Sachs wants a team leader for its high touch securities strategists
If you're a "high touch" salesperson or sales-trader, you're dealing with the most demanding most high value clients who like to interact with human beings. This doesn't mean that you won't be supported by, "data analytics and automation" Goldman is looking for someone to lead the team of strategists which provide this support.
14. J.P. Morgan is looking for a new rates trader
Deutsche isn't the only one bolstering its rates team. J.P. Morgan is also looking for a new VP level Euro/US$ rates trader in London. J.P. leads the G10 rates space globally.
15. Citi wants a VP for its TMT investment banking business
If you want to work with technology firms without leaving an investment bank, you should head to Citi. The U.S. bank is hiring a VP for its technology media and telecoms investment banking team in London.
16. UBS wants someone for a new data analytics platform
UBS doesn't just have an AI centre of excellence, it also has a new data analytics platform called "wave." It's looking for a software engineer to work on this.
17. BNP Paribas is looking for a senior associate for its high yield team
As with leveraged finance, so with high yield. BNP Paribas has been hiring across credit this year and is now looking for a senior associate for high yield and leveraged loan origination in London.
18. Goldman Sachs is looking for someone to help automate equity derivatives trading
After several difficult quarters in fixed income, Goldman Sachs' electronic equities division looks comparatively very healthy. Under CFO Marty Chavez, the bank is automating as much as possible and is looking for a strat to work on its equity derivatives automation team. The bank is building a new equity options algorithmic trading platform.
19. J.P. Morgan is looking for a VP in global index research
As index trading takes over the fixed income markets, J.P. Morgan is hiring someone for its leading global index research group. The VP will produce research notes on market developments impacting bank's index, and learn how they're constructed and discuss issues with clients.
20. Credit Suisse is looking for people for its new risk data platform
There's a clear trend here: risk data is hot. Credit Suisse has got something called RDF (Risk Data Fabric), which it describes as a "big data store" accessible by all its global markets businesses. It's looking for a Java developer to join the RDF team.
Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com
